John Nix, the classy centreman of the 1950s, who helped usher in a golden era at Tigerland by coaching the Reserves to three consecutive Grand Finals, which included the 1966 premiership in an (unofficial) undefeated season, has died. He was 93.
Born Christmas Day in 1931, Nix died on December 28, 2024 surrounded by his family, his son-in-law Matthew Wall (RFC senior player 1980-85) advised the club.
Between 1949 and 1956 he played 95 senior games and kicked 18 goals, all while wearing the coveted No.1 guernsey.
Nix was one of our last surviving players from the 1940s, was teammate to Jack Dyer, sat on selection committees with stars of the 1920s and 30s in Basil McCormack and Jack Titus, and was appointed Reserves coach on the same watershed night when Tom Hafey was named as Senior coach.
He also served as club recruiter from 1963-1965, was bestowed life membership, and in 1999 was one of the men tasked with the impossible decision to pick Richmond’s Team of the Century.
“I sort of ended up Richmond through and through. It was pure pleasure to be associated with them,” he told Rhett Bartlett in a 2016 interview.
Originally an Essendon supporter, Nix was recruited from Trafalgar by Jack Dyer and Maurie Fleming. His debut as a 17-year-old, under coach Dyer, was Round 11 1949 against Melbourne.
A knee injury prevented him from playing more than four games that debut season, but he found form from then on and, by his own account, 1952 was his peak season when he finished third in the Best and Fairest.
During his time at the club, he moved down to Balmain St, worked as an accountant at the Peters Ice Cream factory on Burnley Street, before joining the police force as a constable.
Peters Ice Cream factory where Nix worked.
After Tigerland he took up the captain-coach role at Sale, guided them to two flags and won their Best Player Award in the Latrobe Valley.
For the 1960 season he signed with Mornington as captain-coach and, surprise surprise, won their Best and Fairest and took them to the premiership too.
Nix was a key figure in Richmond’s resurgence in the 1960s coaching the likes of youngsters Royce Hart, Michael Green, Barry Richardson, Graham Burgin, and Wayne Walsh.
The club’s finance books show that when he was appointed coach in November 1965, he was paid the pre-decimal amount of 13 pounds per week, with two pounds travelling allowance. He received bonuses of $100 in 1966, and $250 in 1967.
He (technically) achieved perfection in 1966 by guiding the Reserves to an undefeated season. But on the eve of the Finals series the Tigers were retrospectively docked 12 Premiership points after being caught fielding unregistered player Frank Loughran in three victories.
It didn’t affect them Grand Final day however, the Tigers defeated Collingwood by five points after a last-minute Royce Hart goal.
Nix resigned as Reserves coach three games into 1969, due to business commitments, but he never strayed too far from Tigerland, re-joining the selection committee under Francis Bourke in 1982-83 and Tony Jewell in 1986-87.
Of the teammates he played with, Nix called Billy Wilson and Roy Wright “champions”, and Bill Morris and Don Fraser “great players”.
As Reserves coach and selector, he thought Geoff Strang was “a hell of a good footballer”, and Graham Burgin “tough as goat’s knees”.
His ultimate praise as to Richmond’s greatest player, fell to two names – Kevin Bartlett and Royce Hart.
“If you wanted the ball to be in anyone’s hands in a tight game it would be them”.
Fittingly, Nix’s life membership was bestowed in the premiership year of 1967 alongside the men who he helped to shape that golden era – Graeme Richmond and Tom Hafey.
The Richmond brains trust. The Age, July 9, 1968
